Rome, July 27, 2022
As delivered
Thank you, Ambassador Saleem. And thank you, Director-General Beagle, for your important report.
The United States agrees that today’s unique combination of challenges – including pandemic recovery, climate change, and President Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine – require a coordinated response grounded in the rule of law and access to justice.
On Ukraine, we are encouraged by the resumption of IDLO’s important work within the country. In particular, IDLO is making use of its long-term relationships with the Office of the Prosecutor General to assist Ukrainian efforts to document, investigate, and prosecute violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine. This is a top priority for the United States and many other IDLO member parties, and we take note of IDLO’s unique, tangible contributions to these efforts.
Concurrently, IDLO is resuming efforts with the High Council to the Ukrainian Council on Judicial Ethics, per the country’s overarching judicial reform strategy. These longer-term efforts will help to strengthen Ukraine’s justice institutions and increase transparency.
Earlier this month, the United States appointed a U.S. Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption, highlighting the importance the United States places on anti-corruption as a core national security interest and reiterating the central role global partnerships play in the fight to combat corruption around the world.
Fighting corruption remains a key focus of the United States, especially as we work to implement the U.S. Strategy on Countering corruption, and as we prepare for the 20th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Washington, D.C. in December, the second Summit for Democracy next year, and the 10th Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption in the U.S. in late 2023.
We are excited about IDLO’s contributions – through its programs and its policy advocacy – and welcome IDLO making anti-corruption a thematic cluster that cuts across the organization’s programming and resource mobilization strategies.
We have been supportive of IDLO’s self-funded partnerships with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), meant to identify how countries can safeguard vulnerable groups’ access to food and health services even during emergency lockdowns.
I would ask the Secretariat to circulate to Member States the issue brief on the “role of the law in strengthening food security and nutrition amidst global food crises.” And we welcome more details on the planned IDLO-FAO high-level advocacy meeting on this subject as they become available.
As always, we encourage IDLO to consider how best to involve member states in your Host Country Agreement negotiations, to accelerate much-needed progress.
Colleagues – I look forward to partnering with you to advance IDLO’s unique mandate. We need to work top-down, to ensure policymakers invest adequate resources and time in the rule of law. And we need to work bottom-up, to ensure civil society, including women and children, have the opportunity to stand up and demand access to justice.
Working together, we can contribute to making the world a better, more peaceful, and more just place.
Thank you.